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Published:16:00Sunday 19 March 2017

Blue plaques have sprung up all over Hebden Bridge commemorating the lives of every day heroes in 1916.

The distinctive blue plaques dotted across the town were created by local people keen to find out who lived in their homes in 1916 supported by Hebden Bridge Arts Festival who won Heritage Lottery funding for the scheme.

The ‘Who Lived In My Street’ project was inspired by research the festival team had done into Hebden’s textile history where they discovered that legions of townsfolk had been involved in the manufacture of trousers right up to the outbreak of the first world war. So the festival board thought it would be interesting to invite people to research who lived in their home. Turn to P20

The research project revealed a forgotten history where most of the local men marched off to war, and the women carried on working in local mills only this time producing thousands of uniforms.For some households there was sadness as some of the local Tommies who went to fight for King and Country never made it back.Local shop owners joined in too recording the businesses that were once there and those who ran them.

Arts Festival Artistic Director Helen Meller said: “This project has been a real roller-coaster of emotions as people dug deep to find our who lived in their house all those years ago. We’re grateful to the Heritage Lottery fund for supporting us in this extraordinary community heritage project.”

The blue plaques are being documented by the After Alice photographic team who will add their photos to their growing archive of local history.